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June 30, 2008

MIA Swere Line Repair May Take 6 Weeks

by Sam Savage

By Ina Paiva Cordle, The Miami Herald

Jun. 30--A subcontractor working on Miami International Airport's North Terminal broke a sewer line, which is taking up to six weeks to repair.

Baker Concrete, a Parsons-Odebrecht Joint Venture trade subcontractor, was pouring a concrete pile when it broke a sewer line, causing about 50 feet of concrete to seep into the line, MIA spokesman Greg Chin wrote in an e-mail response to an inquiry.

Baker will remove and replace the portions of the line that contain concrete, all at the contractor's expense, he said.

"The repair work should take four to six weeks to complete, but this is not a critical path project and does not affect the completion dates for North Terminal construction in any way," Chin wrote.

POJV said the repair work has begun, but could not provide a completion date nor a dollar amount for the value of the repairs.

The incident is the first of a contractor breaking a water, sewer or power line in the last 18 months since POJV began its $1 billion contract on the North Terminal, Chin said.

"Parsons Odebrecht Joint Venture has drilled over 900 concrete piles without any incident since starting the North Terminal Program. This is the type of issue which can occur on every mega construction project," said Dave Brown, program director for POJV, via e-mail.

"This particular item occurred when a pile was drilled through an unidentified sewer line in an area of the terminal that is currently not in operation. We were able to avoid disruptions to the airport services and are working to continue and conclude the repairs without interference to airport activities. There are no impacts to either the project or the program schedule."

The North Terminal will be completed in 2011. About 1,100 workers are on site, completing more than $1 million in work per day.

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